Weather Forecast

The visiting Holyoke Dragon baseball team faced two defeats in varsity double-header action at Wiggins on Tuesday, March 24. The losses were Holyoke’s first of the season, bringing the team record to 2-2. Having already been postponed from Saturday, March 14 due to the state basketball tournament, both Holyoke and Wiggins were determined to play on Tuesday, despite the strong winds and cold temperatures. However, the games were bumped up to 1 p.m. instead of the scheduled 3:30 p.m. start time. “Both teams had to battle the elements of the weather,” said coach Kyle Bules. He added, “Wiggins is a very good team. Their pitching kept us on our heels and their defense made the plays. We committed too many errors and we can’t win if that happens.”

Holyoke 10, Wiggins 16 Holyoke was off to a slow start in the first game against the Tigers, finally getting on the board in the third inning. Meanwhile, Wiggins put up two runs in the first inning and added nine in the second. The Dragons broke through in the top of the third, bringing home four batters for an 11-4 score after three innings. They continued to fight throughout the remaining four innings, putting up an additional six runs. Yet, even though the Tigers had two scoreless innings, the initial deficit was too great to overcome and HHS took the loss, 10-16. Logan Krueger held the mound for over five innings, pitching four earned runs, eight hits and three bases on balls. Brett Gerk was attributed the loss on the mound, throwing over one inning for six earned runs, four hits, one strikeout and three bases on balls. Austin Tharp was three for three at batting, hitting one double and earning two runs and two RBIs. Ryan Baumgartner had a triple with three runs and one RBI.Statistics provided by coach Bules AB R H RBIReid Baumgartner 3 1 0 0DeBoer 5 1 2 1Tharp 3 2 3 2Ryan Baumgartner 3 3 1 1Krueger 3 1 1 0King 3 0 1 2Gerk 4 1 1 2Vasa 4 1 1 0Price 2 1 0 0 Totals 30 11 10 8 3B - Baumgartner. 2B - Tharp, King, Gerk. SB - Reid Baumgartner, DeBoer, Krueger, Vasa, Price. Wiggins 2 9 0 2 0 3 - —16 Holyoke 0 0 4 3 2 0 1 —10

Holyoke 9, Wiggins 10 HHS was ready for a comeback in the second game of the day against Wiggins, making some strong plays in the first two innings. The Dragons quickly put three up on the board in the top of the first, and added two more in the second. The Tigers added two and one runs of their own, falling behind 5-3. Holyoke and Wiggins were held scoreless in the third, but the Tigers made a big turnaround in the bottom of the fourth, running six players across home plate and gaining control of the lead, 9-5. Again, the fifth inning remained scoreless, but in the top of the sixth, HHS earned four runs to tie up the score at 9-all. Unfortunately for the Dragons, their momentum waned. Wiggins brought home one more batter in the bottom of the sixth, giving them the lead once again. HHS could not reply with a run in the top of the seventh, allowing the Tigers to win by one. Tharp recorded the loss on the mound, pitching the first 3.1 innings for nine hits, five earned runs, three bases on balls and six strikeouts. Brandon Price also took the mound for the remaining 2.2 innings, throwing four hits, one earned run and one strikeout. At bat, Krueger was two for three, with a triple, two runs and three RBIs. Tharp was once again three for three, with two runs and one RBI. Statistics provided by coach Bules AB R H RBIReid Baumgartner 4 0 1 0DeBoer 0 1 0 0Tharp 3 2 3 1Ryan Baumgartner 3 3 1 0Krueger 3 2 2 3King 2 1 0 0Killin 2 0 0 0Gerk 4 0 1 1Vasa 3 0 0 0Price 4 0 0 0Beck 1 0 0 0Harvey 0 1 0 0 Totals 29 10 8 53B - Krueger. SB - DeBoer, Tharp (2), Ryan Baumgartner (3), King. Holyoke 3 2 0 0 0 4 —9 Wiggins 2 1 0 6 0 1 —10

Yuma, Merino games postponed Due to inclement weather, HHS baseball games originally scheduled for Friday, March 27 against Yuma and Saturday, March 28 at Merino were postponed. Rescheduled dates have not yet been determined. Next up, the Dragons are scheduled to play a varsity doubleheader at their county rival’s home field in Haxtun Saturday, April 4 at 3 p.m. “We have an 11-day break due to the postponing of Yuma and Merino,” said Bules. “Hopefully we can get a few things ironed out before we face Haxtun.” On Monday, April 6, Holyoke’s JV team will host both Wray and Sedgwick County, with games slated to start at 3:30 p.m. The JV team will then travel to Haxtun on Tuesday, April 7 to take on the Bulldogs at 3:30 p.m.